A critique of Wesley Carr's
lecture 'Whence and Whither in another Millennium '

On 3 April 2001 Wesley Carr
gave a public lecture in which he attempted to portray himself as the
victim of a campaign of 'collusive manipulation'. Like most of Wesley's
output, it contains a number of falsehoods. This article highlights
some of them. ------------------

"Managing any organisation
today commits you to complicated technical and legal constraints upon
what most people would consider normal human decency." Not true. Legislation
compels employers to be more fair, honest, and accountable, not the
opposite. ------------------

"The audit almost by chance
exposed to my colleagues and me a serious matter involving Abbey money,
the setting up of a private company; and improper charging for the choir.
The Dean and Chapter knew nothing of these." Not true. Lord Jauncey
explicitly stated that both Dean and Precentor knew of the account's
existence, and was surprised that "neither the dean nor the precentor
asked Dr Neary about its operation as soon as they were aware of it".
Canon Semper, the treasurer at the Abbey when the account was first
set up gave evidence under oath that he knew about it. Carr's use of
the phrase "almost by chance" is also interesting. ------------------

"We recognise that the Abbey
and its affairs are of public interest. And if we ever believed in confidentiality,
we no longer do!" Westminster Abbey routinely breach confidentiality
in their attempts to cover up their wrongdoing. This included the receiver
general David Burden reading out a confidential letter of complaint
from a parent whose son was being abused to other parents in an attempt
to drum up support for the abusing headmaster. He was asked at the meeting
if the letter was confidential and denied it, despite the words 'in
confidence' being written at the top of the letter in capitals. Twelve
days later the first article of unrest at the abbey choir school appeared
in the press. Dean Carr pressed the school doctor to breach confidentiality
about the boys who were suffering symptoms of stress, and when he declined
to do so, attempted to undermine the doctor's professional position.
------------------

"The same person also recently
remarked in the press, the intention remains to 'haunt and taunt' the
Dean" Not true. The person to whom Dean Carr refers, Judge Compston,
was reported in the Guardian as saying that the dean was "haunted and
taunted" by his own past. ------------------

"Integrity is the foundation
of all action in a Christian body: only when we can acknowledge failure
in that area, can we confidently hope to be forgiven. And when the staff
discover this, they learn that all are valued and fairly and equally
treated." The statement about integrity is breathtaking, coming from
one of the most deceitful individuals ever to take holy orders. His
dishonesty extends to his 'theological' teachings, in which he argues
that there is no such thing as evil only power, an argument as old as
evil itself. But the statement that "only when we acknowledge failure,
can we confidently hope to be forgiven," is a direct inversion of the
teachings of Christ, who said that one must forgive one's unrepentant
brother seventy times seven times. ------------------

"It falls to [James O'Donnell]
to secure the future of our great musical tradition. The Choir has not
for a long time sounded as good as it does. We are proud of the choir
and the choristers. But in the background the fact remains that a school
for just 38 boys is vulnerable to fashion (boarding for young boys is
currently out of fashion). The weakness of scale also becomes apparent
when the school is under attack as it has been recently, whether justifiably
or not." At the time of Wesley's lecture the choir had lost some 20%
of its strength due to sustained institutional bullying by the headmaster,
supported in his wrongdoing by Dean Carr as chairman of governors. This
was independently verified by the Social Services and the Childrens
Society. The statement that the "school is under attack" is also untrue.
It was the wrongdoing of the head master Roger Overend and the dishonesty
and manipulation of Dean Carr that was under attack. ------------------

"What about accountability?
This theme runs through society today and churches - including Westminster
Abbey - cannot and would not want to be immune. At first hearing the
notion sounds a good thing. But the questions are many: who is accountable
to whom? In what should that accountability consist? And when does attending
to accountability debilitate the actual work?" Dean Carr is on record
as boasting of his lack of accountability. To one parent who had complained
of abuse he stated in front of witnesses: "I am not here to discuss
the behaviour of the head master. I am here to discuss the behaviour
of your son. I am the Dean of Westminster and there is nothing you can
do about that." When asked by another parent at a minuted meeting "who,
at the abbey has the cure of souls?" - he refused three times to answer
the question, saying that it was "not a relevant concept", eventually
declaring "I will not be cross examined in my own Abbey". ------------------